Agenda item

To provide the Joint Public Protection Committee with an overview of the work undertaken by the Public Protection Service in response to Covid19.

The Committee considered the report (Agenda Item 8) which provided an overview of the work undertaken by the Public Protection Service in response to Covid-19.

Sean Murphy (Public Protection Manager) introduced the report. He described the work undertaken by the service in recent months in response to the Covid-19 outbreak and future work.

Interim service arrangements had been put in place immediately prior to lockdown and it had been necessary to cease operating some aspects of the service. This would be covered in greater detail in the performance report, but included inspections of food premises and visits to farms.

New areas of work had also been introduced quite rapidly in response to Government regulations. The structure of the service had been analysed to see how best to deliver this work. This was taken forward in two ways.

Firstly, a reactive service was created to manage the increased demand in enquiries from, and provide increased support for, residents and businesses.

The second aspect was work within the community. This included the provision of messages to support businesses and more recently to support businesses to reopen. This also covered track and trace work.

Anna Smy (Strategic Manager for Response) provided further detail on the reactive/response work. This work had involved existing staff but officers who would normally undertake inspections and visits to premises had also been utilised.

Initially, there was work in relation to what premises could remain open, with non-compliance issues having to be resolved. This involved weekend visits to premises, sometimes alongside the Police. This was a heavy workload for a relatively small team.

There was a particular increase in the reporting, at the beginning of lockdown, of complaints relating to bonfires and noise nuisance. The priority for officers had been responding to issues linked to commercial activities.

There had been an initial reduction in work associated with complaints related to food premises as they were not operating. However, this was beginning to return to normal levels as businesses sought to operate, sometimes in different ways.

Noise complaints had returned with business reopening and many people continuing to work from home. Domestic noise had also resulted in complaints, again as people worked from home and children remained home from school.

There had been a strong focus on ensuring health and safety requirements were being met by businesses.

The team’s workload had currently become a mixture of a return to business as usual (doorstep crime was increasing) and ongoing Covid-19 related work. This included working with businesses such as public houses and hair salons seeking to operate.

Sean Murphy added that when the regulations were issued for restrictions to businesses, Public Protection Partnerships (PPPs) were designated as the enforcement authority. A team of officers had been put in place although the impact at that stage was unclear. As an example of the impact, Sean Murphy explained that since this report was produced, 280+ enquiries/complaints had been received from residents, other businesses and employees of businesses. In response, officers had conducted a number of visits and all allegations had been followed up. This resulted in closure notices being issued in some cases, but in the majority of incidents it transpired that there was a misunderstanding on the part of businesses.

Rosalynd Gater (Commercial Team Manager) described the more proactive elements of the workload. A major area recently was work in relation to the national test and trace programme.

Work fell into three different tiers. Tier 1 work would be for those cases where there was a positive test in a high risk setting. Instructions would come from Public Health England to conduct further investigations and/or form incident control teams. The service was the front door for this work. Systems had been developed and implemented with Public Health Teams for outbreak control work.

Officers were also involved in the formation of Covid-19 incident plans. The work of the team with high risk premises would impact on these plans. This included preventative work around what action to taken in the event of an outbreak. High risk premises included care homes, schools, hotels and pubs. Such premises were targeted and assistance offered with safety measures and test/trace systems.

Assistance was given to premises able to reopen. Information was available for businesses on council websites, including advice around risk assessments. Information was also shared via social media and mailshots.

Hygiene audits were held in care homes to ensure infectious disease control requirements of Clinical Commissioning Groups were being adhered to.

Sean Murphy added further details of communication work. This included advice to businesses and residents, as well as council staff and Members. He felt this had been successful and evidence of this was the significant rise in the use of the PPP website which had become a major source of information for businesses etc. Information included scam awareness.

To summarise, Sean Murphy stated that this had been a very busy period. While it was acknowledged that some activities had initially been reduced, the service had sought to maintain business as usual as much as possible alongside track and trace work, helping businesses to reopen and providing support to other council services.

Councillor Parry Batth gave thanks for the detailed report and presentation.

Councillor Chris Bowring was unaware of the PPP’s role in test and trace. It was also his understanding that the work within care homes was managed by Adult Social Care rather than the PPP. He queried the governance arrangements in this area.

In relation to work within care homes, Sean Murphy explained that each local authority had handled this locally. The PPP was working in West Berkshire’s care homes at the request of the Clinical Commissioning Group. The service had offered to do likewise across the three local authorities, but Wokingham had elected for its Adult Social Care service to take this forward rather than the PPP.

On the track and trace role, Environmental Health had traditionally been involved in the control of infectious diseases. Experienced staff had therefore been deployed to work in complex settings and this was the model across Berkshire. Rosalynd Gater added a further element to the track and trace role. This was to link with and support vulnerable groups.

Sean Murphy further explained that it had been possible to share best practice across the three local authorities, covering the work conducted in high risk settings and work across the three Public Health Teams.

Councillor John Harrison offered his congratulations to the PPP for all their hard work. He gave particular thanks for the proactive work undertaken with businesses in helping them to reopen which in turn helped the economy.

Sean Murphy explained that the work with businesses would help to build confidence among residents by reassuring them that businesses were being closely monitored.

Councillor Hilary Cole added her thanks for the work undertaken by the service across the three local authority areas, which included working closely with other service areas and outside bodies. She added a further thank you to officers for keeping Members well informed.

Councillor Hilary Cole continued by praising the thorough approach to supporting businesses to benefit the economy whilst keeping members of the public safe. She asked that thanks be passed on to the officers involved.

Councillor John Porter echoed these points and added thanks for the updates that had been provided to keep parish and town councils informed. The increased use of social media had been positive and he hoped that would continue to be used as a way of sharing information and advice.

Sean Murphy advised that many new ways of working had been identified during the response to and recovery from Covid-19. This included communication and provision of online training. It was the intention for this approach to continue and be enhanced.

RESOLVED to note the report and the work undertaken by the Public Protection Service in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.